Author Archives: Jeff Eisenberg

Prototypical rock groups don’t exist, but if they did, these guys wouldn’t be one. Three pole vaulters, two football players, and a spiky haired kid with a cow bell are not exactly the model for rock ‘n’ roll stardom, even by small-time garage band standards. But UCLA pole vaulter Shane Hackett and his bandmates in […]

Now that her nagging injuries have finally healed, Monique Henderson is showing signs of living up to her own press clippings. Henderson, widely considered the top prep sprinter in the nation in 2002, has run a series of fast times over the past few weeks in the 100- and 200-meters. Then Sunday, in her outdoor […]

Clutching the NCAA Championship trophy in one hand while wiping the tears from her eyes with the other, Betsy Stephenson stood in the back of the gymnastics press conference Friday night, looking, well, human. It’s only in quiet moments like these that Stephenson lets her guard down, that she reveals her true personality. No, the […]

Jamie Dantzscher couldn’t bear to look. Only a calamity on the balance beam could have kept the UCLA women’s gymnastics team from capturing its fifth national title, yet there stood Dantzscher, hands clasped in prayer, peeking out from behind her teammates’ shoulders. “I had no control of the situation,” the All-American explained. “I’m 10 times […]

Trevor Ariza plans to announce today that he will make himself eligible for the NBA Draft, a source within the UCLA athletic department said late Monday. It is unknown whether or not the freshman forward will sign with an agent. Ariza told reporters at a spring football practice Monday afternoon at Spaulding Field that he […]

Cloaked in anonymity throughout her UCLA career, Melissa McBain is a secret no longer. A sterling indoor season has propelled McBain into a strong start outdoors, reaffirming her status as perhaps UCLA’s top middle-distance runner, at least until three-time NCAA champion Lena Nilsson begins competing later this month. McBain, maybe the Bruins’ most improved athlete […]

Prove it. That was Sheena Gordon’s mantra each time she stalked the high jump bar Saturday morning. She wanted to prove that she was finally healthy, that her performance at the Texas Relays was no fluke, and that at last she had developed into the elite high jumper she believed herself to be. Saturday, Gordon […]